The Late Night Show
by Kamil the Awesome
Summary: Wally and Artemis have a talk in the aftermath of the training exercise that went wrong. Between 116 Failsafe and 117 Disordered. Slight AU


A/N: Writing this since it doesn't belong in Young Justice Unlimited.

The Late Night Show

Wally woke from a nightmare again. It was the same one too; Artemis's death during the training exercise from hell. A flash of light, a display of bones, and she was gone. That was all he saw, every time. He rubbed his face, unsure what to do about the dreams when his stomach grumbled. Groaning, he stood up, not bothering to put on pants or a shirt. _Who'd be up at this time? Anyways, the only one who'd actually freak from me wearing boxers is Artemis_. And then her death replayed in his head again.

"I may just have to request the first session with Black Canary." He walked out of his room, moving through the dark halls at a normal speed. When he reached the kitchen, he was surprised not that there was someone there.

He was surprised that Artemis was there. She was drinking something he didn't recognize, but the smell startled his stomach, which rumbled louder than usual. She looked up and spotted him.

"Oh, you."

"Really? That's all I get? Just a 'oh you'?" Wally began laughing. "Excuse me while I grab some food and go back to bed. Maybe a full stomach will keep the nightmares away." He paused, realizing he had mentioned his nightmares. "Brilliant."

Artemis leaned against the table. "Nightmares, huh? What were they about? Megan taking over your body? Wait, you'd like that. I wonder what it was."

"Doesn't matter. You weren't there." _You were just dying_, he tacked on. She glared at him.

"I can't imagine what it could be. _Megalicious_ was the last one to die." It was Wally's turn to glare at her. He kept it for less than a second before laughing.

"You have no idea what happened after you died. Other than Megan taking over and putting you in a coma." Wally watched her. Artemis crossed her arms and gave him a glare along the lines of 'tell me, Kid Idiot'. "After Aqualad avenged your death, we went to the Hall of Justice; everyone had seen the League perish, so we decided to step in.

"We found J'onn while there. Finding him alive led to Robin and I scanning the cannon we had taken. We discovered trace amounts of zeta radiation, so I jumped straight to transportation." Wally laughed. "It's funny. I was more concerned about you than my uncle." He shook his head. "Of course, the aliens came for us. All of us except Kaldur escaped."

"Wally, I didn't…" Artemis trailed off, unsure of what to say. She was so used to being the tough girl that it felt weird showing emotion.

"It's fine. You weren't there. Going off the assumption you were still alive, we attacked the mother ship over Smallville, Kansas. Superboy distracted the aliens so we could get inside. In there, we discovered that you, along with the League and Kal, were actually dead. At that point, something seemed to fade. We did blow it up, but at the cost of Conner, Rob, and my life."

"And that's it," Artemis said. She turned away from Wally. "Why were you concerned about me foremost?"

"I dunno. I want to say it was Megan's take over. Other parts want to claim I was just hoping that our…perfect team hadn't been split." Wally noticed the small smile on her face. "But what scares me most about what happened was that I was so willing to forget The Line."

"The Line? You mean that imaginary line that no superhero is willing to cross. The murder one?" Wally nodded.

"You were barely dead and I already wanted their blood. I wanted to kill each alien myself, even though it wouldn't bring you back."

"And when you found the zeta radiation…" Artemis drifted off again. They both remained quiet, not looking at each other.

"I'll get my food and go." Wally walked past the archer and grabbed a tube of ice cream.

A hand grabbed him as he tried to walk away. "Don't go Wally." He stared at Artemis, confused. "I've been having the same nightmares. That's why I'm out here, drinking tea. I'm trying to get myself calm enough to sleep without distractions."

"Then why are you keeping me around?" Wally asked. Artemis glanced down at their intertwined hands. She hadn't even noticed yet.

"I don't know, Baywatch. Maybe it's something you said." She looked away. "Maybe it's because I can't keep living in denial."

"What was that?" Wally asked. Artemis straightened, releasing his hand. She hadn't realized that the last part was aloud. It had been quiet, but not quiet enough for the speedster to not catch it.

"Nothing, Wally." Artemis stared up at him for a moment. "I was surprised by what happened. I didn't think you'd care so much." She watched as the speedster's face flushed light red.

"Uh, well about that…" Wally scratched the back of his head. "It's funny. I had been thinking about something Kent Nelson had said to me before he died." Artemis glared at him, knowing that Nelson was still trapped in the Helmet of Fate. Wally continued. "He told me to find my own spitfire, a girl who wouldn't let me get away with anything. After, uh, finding Megan and Supey making out in a storage closet, I began rethinking things."

"Please don't tell me that the suggestion of a dying man and discovering that the aliens were together implanted me in your subconsciousness." Wally began laughing.

"No, actually. I was going to tell you after we returned to the Cave from the Fortress."

Artemis stared at him, everything making sense. "So that's why you were so angry? That the aliens prevented you from telling me that?" She brought a hand up to her mouth. Wally held back a glare, unsure if she was laughing or doing something else.

They stared at each other for a couple minutes until Artemis broke the silence. "I haven't been honest to the team."

"Don't let Kaldur hear," Wally said. "He might think _you're_ the mole." Artemis giggled and the speedster wiggled his eyebrows, grinning.

"Actually, the one I'm most worried about is you."

"I didn't actually expect that one." Wally pulled up a stood next to her. "What is it?"

Artemis took in a deep breath. "I'm not Green Arrow's niece." She looked over.

"That's it?" Wally asked. She sighed and continued on.

"We've met my father and sister in combat." He raised an eyebrow, staring at his ice cream. She ignored how fast he packed it down. "My father is Sportsmaster. My sister is Cheshire."

"That's why she got away on that first mission. You were too scared to let us capture her and find out your lineage." Wally looked up at her. "You took me saying you were a replacement for Roy that seriously." He laughed again. "I just said that because I was so embarrassed by our first meeting. The first glimpse of you made me think we got an angel onto the team, but then I told myself they didn't exist."

"And I opened my mouth and made fun of you." Wally nodded and Artemis laughed at him. "I said that because I was so unsure of myself. I could've taunted you about having saved your life against Amazo."

"Thanks, Arty."

"Please don't call me that."

"What do you want me to do?" Artemis glanced at him, suspicious. He had said 'do', not 'say'.

"There's one thing, but I don't know if you'd like it." Wally glanced over at her, a smirk on his face. It was impossible he knew what she was thinking, but then he dipped down.

Their lips touched with hesitation, as if they both knew they wanted this, but didn't know how the other would react. They remained like this for the full second it took for Wally to figure out she wanted it as much as he did. He closed the remaining hair of space and captured her lips in his. Her arms wrapped loosely around his neck as he tugged at her bottom lip.

"I hope you two don't mind me bringing this up during our sessions." They broke apart, spotting Black Canary. She smiled and walked away.

"At least she's the only one who saw us," Artemis said. Wally looked over her shoulder and noticed a small bit of movement. Robin.

"How do you feel about filleting a bird?" Artemis appeared confused for a second before nodding.

"You grab him, I get a knife."

A/N: yeah…that went different from what I had expected. Eh, whatever.


End file.
